


you need a smoke (and a hug).

by hell_highwater



Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: Alternate Universe - Kindergarten & Pre-school, Fluff, LeATHERMØUTH Era Frank Iero, M/M, Mutual Pining, Teacher Frank Iero, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-09
Updated: 2020-04-10
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:40:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23523208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hell_highwater/pseuds/hell_highwater
Summary: something quick i wrote because teacher/parent fics are superior.frank is a preschool teacher and gerard isn't that good at being a single parent. g's kid is smarter than him, seriously.didn't use his real kid's name bc that felt creepy
Relationships: Frank Iero/Gerard Way
Comments: 9
Kudos: 81





	1. pigeon-post compliments

**Author's Note:**

> this was written on three sittings, no beta, just me and my imagination. it was going to be a single chapter but shit got long so next chapter will be up tomorrow! enjoy this for now.

Gerard was running late, barely having any time to brush his teeth before running to the door, trying to flatten his red hair so he didn't look like a maniac.

He was already stepping out of the door, when he realized he wasn't the one running late. It was his daughter. He was forgetting to bring his daughter to the first day of preschool.

"Daddy!" she protested. "You're leaving me?".

"Oh shit." Gerard said, quickly covering his mouth. "Don't tell your teacher I said that" he told her.

"You said a bad word!" she laughed.

"Yes, Susie, but I shouldn't have" Gerard explained. He had a bad habit of swearing around his kid every time he messed something up. Which turned out to be pretty often.

"Now come on, let's go." he said, putting on her coat. "We don't wanna be late."

She simply stared at him, smiling. 

**...**

The preschool was only ten minutes away from Gerard's apartment, but the traffic wasn't in his favor, and he ended up walking his daughter in at 8:45.

There was no one at the gate, since the other children had entered fifteen minutes earlier. Gerard stopped at the door which said "Ages 3-4. Mr Iero" in sparkly, pink letters, and knocked. 

"I'm gonna miss you!" Susie told Gerard, slightly pouting.

"And I'm gonna miss you more!" Gerard answered, ruffling her hair.

A man in a black shirt full of paint splatters opened the door.

"Ah, there you are!" he said. "You must be Susan?" he asked the little girl.

"I'm Susie." she answered, frowning. Gerard was sure she would never let anyone call her by her full name.

"And you must be Mr Way, right?" the man asked Gerard.

"Yes. Gerard is fine, though" he answered, shaking the teacher's hand.

"In that case, it's Mr Frank." the teacher said jokingly.

Gerard kneeled down, hugging Susie.

"I'll be here on time, I promise! I love you so much." he told her, kissing her cheek.

"Bye daddy. I love you too." she answered, walking through the door, looking at the other kids already.

"I thought she was going to pout a little, at least" Gerard told the teacher.

"They usually cry. A lot" answered Frank. "You were lucky, there's been kids who have stood at this door for _hours_ yelling and kicking." he added.

"Susie's never been one for tantrums" Gerard said, waving at his daughter, who was already chatting with some kids inside.

"Mr Frank! I wanna paint!" a kid protested from inside the room.

"That's my call" said the teacher, already turning around. "By the way, love the hair. Gives me Ziggy vibes." he commented quickly before closing the door.

"Huh?" Gerard said, confused. He wasn't used to getting compliments on his hair, much less by fully functional adults. He now knew that his daughter's teacher liked Bowie though, so he knew she was in safe hands.

**...**

On the way to the recording studio, Gerard couldn't stop looking at his hair on the rear view mirror. Did it really give _Ziggy vibes_? Oh God, he was acting like a teen girl. Since when did he care about compliments from strangers? He was his daughter's teacher anyways, he probably just wanted to give a good first impression. Why else would he tell Gerard he liked his hair?

Gerard worked as a producer for a few bands. They were mostly indie or punk acts, since he didn't work with any labels. The recording studio had been previously owned by both him and his girlfriend, before she'd left the country. She told him that the studio was now his, and he could do whatever he wanted with it. She'd also said basically the same thing in relation to their daughter, who was barely two when her mom left. Once in a while, Susie would ask Gerard about her mom, but unfortunately, there was no way to contact her. He had tried social media, friends and family, with no success. Luckily, Susie seemed to understand.

That day, Gerard was booked by a new punk band from his hometown, who were planning on releasing an album soon. They were a mostly political act, from what he could gather from the demos they sent him. He was set to have a meeting with all of the band members in half an hour, except for the singer. On their email they'd explained that the guy had a day job, unlike the rest of the band members, so he would contact Gerard separately. He was fine with this as long as they were all together for recording sessions, obviously.

The meeting passed by quickly. They discussed a few basic things, and agreed on signing for the album as soon as the singer (who also wrote all of the songs, Gerard found out) had talked to him. 

"You didn't tell me your names, guys." Gerard said, looking at the band. He only knew the name of the man who'd emailed him, Rob.

"Oh." they said in unison. Rob proceeded to name all of the members, and then added "Frankie's not here though, you'll meet him soon."

"Hope so." Gerard replied.

**...**

This time, he arrived early at the preschool's gates, so he decided to have a smoke. He leaned on the side of his VW beetle and lit up a cigarette, looking at the closed doors. While he was in the car, he'd realized the singer's name and the teacher's name were the same. It was just a big coincidence, obviously, but he couldn't help but wonder if by some magical force on Earth, the man inside that classroom was the same screaming about murdering fascists. Would make for one fun teacher, for sure.

The clock hit 1 PM and kids started running out of the gates. Gerard stepped on his cigarette butt and walked to the gates, looking for his daughter. He spotted her, chatting with her teacher. He had his sleeves rolled up, and Gerard could see his arms were fully tattooed. Was that allowed?

Susie spotted Gerard as well and waved at him.

"Daddy, guess what I did today!" she said cheerily.

"What did you do, squirrel?" he answered, lifting her up. 

Frank looked at them, smiling fondly.

Susie started talking about all the friends she had made that morning and the games they played.

"She was super friendly today" Frank commented. 

"Yeah, she's like that" Gerard answered. "A lot like her mother." he added.

"She wouldn't stop talking about Lola? I'm guessing that's your dog, but she said something about pink fur too." Frank told him.

"Oh." Gerard blurted. "Lola is this, character? I guess, that I made up for a project a while ago. Susie just fell in love with them so I made them into a plushie." he explained.

"That's so cute!" Frank said, instantly blushing. "I mean, that she liked it so much."

"I'm hungry, dad!" Susie protested.

"Ok, sweetheart, let's go then." Gerard answered. "I never thought I gave off Bowie vibes." he told Frank.

"Wh-" Frank mumbled as Gerard walked away, holding his daughter's hand.

"I made a drawing, look!" Susie told Gerard, taking a sheet of paper out of her small backpack.

Gerard looked at it. It was a drawing of Lola, all fuzzy and pink and bright. He loved when Susie drew them, they always looked friendlier than anything Gerard could make.

"I love it, squirrel." he told her. "I think I'm framing it." he added.

She laughed, squinting her eyes.

"Daddy, Mr Frank said your shirt was cool!" she told Gerard.

"What?" Gerard said, confused. "Your teacher said that?" he asked.

"Yes! He said he really, really liked the band on it." Susie added.

Gerard was wearing a Rage Against The Machine shirt that day, a real, vintage one he'd found in a thrift shop a while ago.

"Wow. He has great music taste then." he told his daughter.

Susie continued telling him about the friends she'd made that day.

**...**

At night, after he'd put Susie to bed, Gerard got an email from "Frankie T Willz" stating he could only work meetings from 2 PM onward, or on weekends. Gerard guessed that was the singer of the band he'd seen earlier, so he answered. 'Great, I can do weekends, unless you don't mind if I bring my kid to the studio.' he sent.

He paced around the living room, waiting for an answer. Not much later, he got a new email, where Frankie said he was totally fine with it, since he worked with children. Gerard couldn't believe the guy who screamed like a maniac about killing the fucking president worked around kids. Gerard was busy until the next week, so they set a meeting for the following Wednesday. 

Already in bed, Gerard kept thinking about what his daughter had told him earlier. Her teacher liked a very political band, so it would make sense that he also wrote the kind of music that the band he was working with played. But it _had_ to be a coincidence. _But_ the singer had told him that he worked with children. He tried to convince himself that they definitely weren't the same guy. 

He took Susie to preschool next morning, and when her teacher greeted her, he _stared_ at Gerard. He didn't just look, he full-on watched him as the kids ran past him. Gerard got really freaked out, seriously, what was wrong with the guy? But he couldn't help but shoot a glance at the teacher as he left the building to get in his car. Frank was clearly letting his beard grow, the stubble from the past day was now becoming a little longer, and Gerard could see it was slightly ginger.

The rest of the week went on as normal, but everyday, when he picked up Susie from school, she would tell him her teacher had complimented him. One day it was his boots, another day, his hair. On Friday, he'd worn a little makeup and Susie told him that her teacher said it was amazing. Gerard couldn't figure out if she was telling the truth or just making things up, because it was so weird that Frank said something nice about him _every single day._ He did seem like a really nice, warm guy, though. Maybe he was just trying to be friendly.

Gerard had to admit that more than once, he'd watch Frank from his car while he waited for the rest of the kids to go in. He even started to get up a little earlier, so he could get there before the teacher was already in the classroom. There was something about the way he acted around the kids that seemed so warm and caring. Gerard could tell he loved his job. And he also could tell the guy was pretty attractive. Not that he would ever say it out loud, but one evening, when he picked up his daughter, he arrived a little late, so her teacher was ready to leave. They walked to the parking lot together, and when Frank was about to get in his car, he took off the sweatshirt he was wearing. When he pulled it off, Gerard got a quick sight of the tattoos he had on his belly and _holy shit_ those were gorgeous. He didn't want to stare though, so he waved at Frank and got in the car with Susie.

"Daddy, why were you looking at Mr Frank?" she asked.

"Uh, what?" Gerard answered. "I wasn't looking at him!"

"Yes you were! Staring is rude, right?" she said.

"I wasn't staring at him! Why would I be doing that?" Gerard exclaimed. "Ok, maybe I was" he said.

"I knew it!" she said triumphantly. 

**...**

On Monday, Susie asked if she could have lunch at her friend's house. Gerard wasn't sure at first, he didn't know any of the parents there, but Susie was so insistent he felt bad telling her no. At work, he tried to write a few different things for the bands he worked with, but nothing was working out. He didn't want to sit around any longer, so he decided to walk to Susie's preschool. When he got there, slightly earlier than he intended to, he patted down his pockets, searching for his pack of cigarettes, but soon he realized he'd left those in his car. A few minutes passed by, and the sky, which had been cloudy earlier, was now turning black. The first cold drop fell on Gerard's shoulder, and he cursed out loud. Then, as the final note to his shitty day, he remembered he didn't even need to go pick up Susie that day. Her friend's mom was going to do it. The kids were already leaving as he searched where the nearest bust stop was.

Gerard kicked the ground, and then someone touched his shoulder. It was his daughter's teacher, who was looking at him with a worried expression.

"Hey, it's raining, what are you doing out here?" he asked, getting closer to Gerard's face.

"I, um, came to pick up Susie. But then I remembered she was leaving with a friend and I, uh, I forgot to bring an umbrella." Gerard said nervously. He knew he was blushing, but he wasn't sure why.

Frank pulled out a cigarette pack. 

"You look like you need a smoke, man." he laughed. He took out two cigarettes and passed one to Gerard.

"Thanks. Wait, how do you know I smoke?" Gerard asked.

"I saw you from outside the classroom window a few times." Frank replied. "Wait, that was creepy as shit, I swear I wasn't staring or anything." he added.

"Oh, right." Gerard said. He'd caught Frank staring at him a few times, so he wasn't sure he was telling the truth.

They smoked in silence. Gerard had never looked up close to Frank's hands. He had lots of tattoos, all over them. He thought the one with the cobweb was particularly stunning.

"I'm guessing you don't have your car with you?" Frank asked.

"Oh, no. I walked here." Gerard answered.

"Do you want a ride?" Frank offered.

"You don't have to. Really, there's a bus stop a few blocks from here." Gerard replied. The thought of being in a car alone with Frank made him anxious, for some reason. Maybe that reason being he realized how fucking cute he was. Seriously, it wasn't fair his daughter's _teacher_ was so good looking. And nice, too.

"Come on, it's fine. You're gonna get soaked if you stay outside any more time." Frank told him, opening his car's door.

"Alright, alright." Gerard gave in. "But I feel like I'm taking advantage of you." 

"I'm just being nice, really, it's nothing." Frank said.

That sentence made Gerard a little sad. It was ridiculous to expect that the ride would be a declaration of love, but hey, it couldn't hurt to dream, right?


	2. realizing you're oblivious

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone knocked on the door, so Gerard went to get it.
> 
> He opened the studio's front door. It was Frank, his kid's teacher.
> 
> "Hey, wasn't expecting to see you here." was Gerard's first reaction. "Wait. How do you know I work here?" he then asked.
> 
> Frank's jaw had dropped to the floor, his eyes wide open in a comically confused face.

While Frank drove, Gerard decided to ask him about the compliments.

"So, my kid has been telling me these things..." he said.

"Huh? Things?" Frank asked, not understanding where Gerard was going.

"Yeah, everyday, when I pick her up, she'll say 'Mr Frank liked your hair' or 'Mr Frank said your makeup was cute' and stuff like that." Gerard explained.

Frank choked on his spit and blushed, his cheeks a strong pink.

"Holy fuck, I can't believe she told you that!" he said, still a few shades too red.

"Wait, so she wasn't making it up?" Gerard inquired.

"Uh, I may have told her a few things like that." Frank said, looking away from Gerard.

"So you were using my kid as a messenger pigeon?!" Gerard protested.

"It wasn't like that!" Frank answered. "Well, maybe I was too embarrassed to actually tell you those things." he accepted.

"Why would you be embarrassed?" Gerard asked. "It's not like I would mind some food for my ego." he joked.

Frank turned onto Gerard's street.

"I... Uh." Frank struggled to answer.

"This is my stop, Frank." Gerard reminded him.

"Oh, right. Didn't notice." Frank replied. "Got distracted."

Gerard got out of the car, shooting a smile at Frank.

"I think your tattoos are pretty cool, just so you know." he said.

Frank looked at him with his eyes wide open, almost cartoon-like.

**...**

On Tuesday, when Gerard went to pick up Susie, he was almost expecting that Frank would tell him something, _anything_. He didn't, though, just waving goodbye to his kid and turning around to talk to one of his coworkers. Gerard had accepted he might be into Frank after all. It wasn't his fault the guy was cute and nice _and_ had great music taste. Who would resist to that?

He had been listening to the demos the new band had sent him again. Gerard felt like he recognized the singer's voice from _somewhere,_ but the screaming made it almost impossible for him to tell exactly who it was. The lyrics were so beautiful and dark, too. Sometimes very political, but they also told amazing stories. He was ready to help them with their record as soon as they signed, because he seriously thought they were the best band he'd ever worked with.

Late at night, he couldn't seem to fall asleep, so he decided to google the faceless singer's name. Nothing popped up for "Frankie T Willz" so he decided to go for a few variations. Nothing was helping, until he tried "F T Willz". Then, a MySpace page appeared, showing that name and a few posts.

Gerard was intrigued by the discovery, so he got to reading. The first few ones were fairly new poems, telling stories about unrequited love and self loathing. Below the poems were a series of posts detailing how he'd met "the cutest guy at work <3333" but "i suck he's never gonna look at me like that ://". Those posts showed a more intimate, emotional side of the guy. Gerard felt kinda bad for him, even relating to the situation a little. Eventually, he felt asleep scrolling through the website.

His alarm clock rang, loud and annoying. Gerard had barely slept the night before, being too focused on the page he'd found. He reluctantly left his warm, comfortable bed to wake Susie up.

He took her to school, and then left to work in the studio. He was being fairly productive, tons of ideas pouring out from his mind to the paper and later, to the computer. He left a little late, speeding down the road to get to the preschool on time. He ended up arriving ten minutes late, so he ran out of his car and up to the gates. His daughter was sitting there, with a different teacher. Gerard apologized to both Susie and the teacher.

Susie loved the studio, so she didn't mind when Gerard told her they'd be going there there. They stopped to get takeout at her favorite place, and continued the drive.

"This is so unhealthy, what kind of dad am I?" Gerard said, talking to himself.

"But it's yummy!" his daughter replied, munching on a hamburger.

"Can't say otherwise." Gerard told her, smiling.

They arrived to the studio around 1:30, and Gerard took out some paper and crayons he kept around for Susie to draw with. He loved how much she liked art. He'd majored in Cartooning back when he was in college, but he dropped out on his last year to live with his girlfriend when she got pregnant. He obviously didn't regret having Susie, but he couldn't help but wonder what could've happened if he kept pursuing arts.

Someone knocked on the door, so Gerard went to get it.

He opened the studio's front door. It was Frank, his kid's teacher.

"Hey, wasn't expecting to see you here." was Gerard's first reaction. "Wait. How do you know I work here?" he then asked.

Frank's jaw had dropped to the floor, his eyes wide open in a comically confused face.

"Shit, it really was you." he said.

"It really was me? What the fuck are you- Oh" Gerard started to say, before realizing why Frank was there.

"You're in the band, right?" he asked Frank.

"Yeah, I thought you'd figured out, honestly. Well, I wasn't sure you were the producer either, though." Frank replied.

Gerard pointed his arm inside, inviting Frank in.

"We're fucking morons, man." Frank said, laughing.

"Hey, don't swear!" Gerard protested. "Susie's here, remember?" he explained.

"Oh, right, shit." Frank answered. "Fuck! I did it again! Sorry!" he said quickly, laughter slipping out of his mouth.

"Who's saying bad words, daddy?" Susie asked.

Frank walked into the studio, smiling shyly at her.

"Oops." he said, shrugging.

"Mr Frank!" Susie said, laughing. "You said a bad word!"

"Shhh." he laughed.

"Squirrel, daddy has to work, do you wanna go to the back?" Gerard asked his daughter.

Frank and Gerard managed to discuss the band's matters in between laughing at their own obliviousness, and agreed on setting a meeting the following week with the entire band. Then Gerard decided to ask Frank about the MySpace posts he'd found the night before.

"So I might've googled your name. Like, the one on your emails." he said.

"Oh no." Frank answered, already blushing.

"The poems were really good, you know? The whole unrequited love thing kinda resonates with me." Gerard commented.

Frank simply couldn't take it anymore. Gerard couldn't be that stupid.

"They're about you, dumbass!" he protested.

"They're- What?" he answered, disbelieving.

"The cute guy I met at work? That was you, Gerard! I must have used dumb variations of 'fiery red hair' like a thousand times." he continued.

"Shit. I didn't even think of that." Gerard managed to say.

"God that was so dumb. Forget I said any of it. And your kid's here too, fuck. I'm such a stupid guy." Frank rambled.

"Hey, hey." Gerard touched Frank's face with his thumb, getting closer to him. "When did I say I didn't feel the same?" he asked him.

"You don't mean that, come on." Frank told him, burying his face in his hands again.

"I do, _dumbass_ , I just thought you were like, straight or something." Gerard laughed.

"This is slightly less uncomfortable, I guess?" Frank asked.

"Yeah."

"Daddy, I'm tired!" Susie protested from the other side of the studio.

"Ok squirrel, we'll go home in a minute!" Gerard replied.

"So, maybe dinner on Friday?" he asked Frank.

"Holy shit, that was fast." Frank replied. "But yeah, that sounds great. Let me give you my number?"

**...**

On Friday, Gerard picked Frank up from his place. Frank had chosen this stupidly Italian restaurant, but Gerard didn't mind it because _holy shit that was a gorgeous man in front of him._ Gerard wouldn't stop gushing about him, and Frank was begging him to _just order._

Gerard couldn't understand how Frank had gotten a job as a preschool teacher with all those tattoos, so he asked him.

"Well, actually, my grandma kinda owns the place?" Frank replied, scratching his neck. 

"That's cheating!" Gerard laughed. He leaned in closer to Frank and gave him a small kiss, their lips touching for barely a fraction of a second.

They kept talking for what felt like hours. Turns out they had a lot of things in common. They were both from Jersey (but Frank was way prouder of it), they both were musicians (duh) and they both really liked each other. They were also big fans of Siouxsie Sioux. Frank said Gerard would win the biggest fan prize, though, seeing as he had named Susie after her.

Gerard drove Frank to his place after they were finished with dinner, singing along to Bowie on the road. When Frank got out of the car he told Gerard to get out too. Then, he just wrapped his arms around him, pulling him in a tight embrace. He felt warm and round and _safe_ and Gerard couldn't feel happier in that moment. Frank pulled back a little and kissed Gerard softly, with his arms still around him, And Gerard realized he could feel even happier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaand that concludes this fic! i had so much fun writing this, i might make a few more ficlets of this same au idk. hope u guys enjoyed it too.

**Author's Note:**

> if u guys liked this, make sure to check my other fic! also, follow me on twt at @bludinfection for more stupid things i say.


End file.
